Iten -- The Capital of the Hill Running World Iten, Kenya is a small town outside of Eldoret in the country's western Rift Valley. Home to phenom Lornah Kiplagat and her training camp, Iten plays host each year to hundreds of the worlds top distance runners for their mid-winter strength building period. This year 2 ZAP Fitness athletes will be among the swift of foot. For 6 to 12 weeks in pre competition training, these athletes emphasize tempo work as well as biomechanical efficiency in preparation for the World Cross Country Championships as well as spring marathons such as Boston and London. To achieve this, the athletes training in Iten spend much of their time running on a variety of hills. Some runs climb for as much as 12-14 miles uphill with precious few breaks and others contain copious amounts of shorter steeper hills, each type working a different physiological system. This, above all other elements, above solitude and even altitude (Iten sits at 8,000 ft.) is why athletes come to this remote spot: for the hills, they can be implemented even outside of Kenya.